COVID-19 cases reported at two Ketchikan schools

Ketchikan High School (KRBD stock photo)

Two Ketchikan secondary schools reported cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, but school administrators say Ketchikan High School and Schoenbar Middle School will remain open.

Schoenbar and Ketchikan High School each reported one case Friday. The high school reported two more “closely related” cases in an email to parents on Sunday.

“Based on our contact tracing and other mitigation efforts, we will NOT need to close the school in response to this case. We will have a full school schedule on Monday. Activities and Practices may continue under their current high risk mitigation plan (no spectators),” Ketchikan High School Principal Jason House said in an email to parents. He said the school would be sanitized before students returned on Monday.

Superintendent Melissa Johnson confirmed that Schoenbar Middle School classes and activities would also be unaffected. 

Contact tracing for the cases is underway, school officials said. With COVID-19 cases spiking in Ketchikan, masks are mandatory across the school district and spectators are barred from school events. Classes began Thursday.

This story has been updated.